Club Q Shooter Visited Six Times Prior to Attack

The preliminary hearing for the shooter who attacked Club Q in November and murdered Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh, and Raymond Green Vance, injuring over a dozen others, began last month. They face 320 charges including bias-motivated crimes.

Investigators found receipts and security video that indicated the shooter had visited the club and purchased drinks there six times prior to the shooting. It appeared that the shooter was planning on livestreaming the attack, as there was a cell phone with a livestreaming app taped to the bill of a hat found in their car. 

The shooter’s friends told authorities that the shooter’s mother identifies as nonbinary and had previously forced them to attend queer clubs. The shooter themselves claimed to identify as nonbinary and use they/them pronouns, though their friends have said they never claimed to be so before this incident. Though I personally believe this claim is a feeble attempt to avoid being prosecuted for a hate crime, it would be hypocritical to dismiss someone’s claimed identity because I disbelieve them and find their actions to be vile. Therefore, the shooter will be referred to with they/them pronouns, as is their preference.

Detectives and police officers testified that they had found a hand-drawn map of Club Q, noting the entrances and exits, as well as parts for an AR-15 style gun and a rainbow colored target, in the shooter’s apartment. Testimony also revealed that they ran a “neo-Nazi white supremacist” website that hosted a video glorifying mass shootings at mosques and temples. 

The aforementioned friends confirmed that the shooter ran the site and that, while gaming, he would repeatedly use racial and queerphobic slurs.

Surprising no one, the judge on the case ruled last month that there was enough evidence to hold a trial for the shooter. The Colorado “Cases of Interest” page contains evidentiary photos open to the public. Censored versions of these photos can be found on the KKTV article posted about the preliminary hearing. Viewers are warned that these photos, even redacted, are graphic and disturbing.